BEFORE he can take on Hillary Clinton in a blockbuster Senate race, Mayor Giuliani may have to face Long Island Rep. Rick Lazio in a Republican primary – and Lazio seems to have a leg up.
Mike Long, the Conservative Party chairman, said the party won’t make an endorsement decision until next year and the “door is open” to all contenders.
But Long also said Lazio has been actively courting party leaders and, “if we were to make a decision tomorrow morning, based on how much work Lazio has done, I think the nomination would go to him.”
That could present a big problem for Giuliani.
The Conservative Party endorsement would certainly help any candidate in a statewide Republican primary, where voters are ideologically in tune with conservative themes.
But even if Giuliani beats Lazio in a GOP primary, he’d have to worry that Lazio on the Conservative Party line would siphon off enough votes in a general election to give the Senate seat to the First Lady.
Mayoral allies say Giuliani has a lot of thinking to do about which party lines he’ll be seeking – other than Republican, of course.
Giuliani’s strategy seems to hinge on averting a Republican primary.
“If it’s Hillary and Giuliani, there’s going to be national pressure from the party not to have a primary,” said one Giuliani ally.
“It’s just not going to be tolerated by the [GOP] presidential candidate to give up a seat in New York because of internal infighting.”
And what about Lazio’s possible Conservative Party candidacy?
“In a race against Hillary Clinton, if he stayed on the Conservative Party line and campaigned actively, that would be the end of his political career,” said the Giuliani ally. *
Harold Ickes has emerged as the chief political adviser to Hillary Clinton – and he’s also on the city government payroll, collecting $7,000 a month as the Washington lobbyist for the City Council.
“He’s our eyes and ears in Washington,” said Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for council Speaker Peter Vallone.
Barowitz said Ickes tracks legislation, lobbies on legislation and arranges meetings between council members and the president, vice president and members of Congress.
Ickes, who operates a high-powered Washington-based consulting firm, signed up the council as a client in September 1997.